Reading’s Historic Buses

Description

Written by Graham Stone and published by Reading Heritage Travel in 1993, this fully-illustrated 32-page A5 booklet gave something of an illustrated history of Reading’s municipal transport told through the growing number of typical examples of the various types of trolleybuses and motorbuses which had been new to the undertaking and which had been hunted down and acquired by local enthusiasts for restoration and preservation.  The purpose of the booklet was to publicise what was becoming a large and varied collection (19 in 1993 – and several more twenty years later!) and, through it, to tell the story of public transport in the town.  The vehicles are not a formal collection but have been assembled by private individuals or groups for their own interest.  The collection, which receives no public funding assistance, is remarkably complete from the 1930s through to, presently, the 1990s, with examples ‘saved’ of most of the typical and standard types which have seen service in the town – and steps are being taken to ensure that this diverse collection remains intact as part of a local charitable trust.

Unfortunately, as might be expected, at the present time this booklet is out-of-print.  However, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that an up-dated version will be produced once plans for the aforementioned charitable trust develop into a reality.